Shift lever assemblies which absorb or isolate vibrations are known to persons skilled in the art. Such assemblies can be used in many applications to isolate or absorb vibration sources. Typical of such applications would be the transmission shift lever in a vehicle. Existing shift lever vibration isolation assemblies, as depicted in FIG. 1, typically include an outer can A having an inner can B received therein, with vibration-absorbing material C located between the inner and outer can. The outer can has a shift lever D emanating from the outside wall of the outer can, with the shift lever being welded to the outside wall of the outer can. The shift lever is welded to the can before the vibration-absorbing material is provided within the can because heat transfer from the welding process would destroy the bond between the vibration-absorbing material and the can. The heat transfer from the welding process would also destroy the vibration-absorbing material, which is typically an elastomer, as it is immediately adjacent to the welding heat without a heat sink.
Alternative production methods which might otherwise produce a better product have thus far proven impractical due to time and costs constraints. Particularly, due to the large size of the shift lever, it is not practical to use an molding process to form the vibration absorbing material within the outer can after the shift lever has been welded to the outer can. The size of the shift lever severely limits the number of assemblies that can be molded at one time, making the process extremely inefficient and cost prohibitive. As a result of the welding required to attach the shift lever to the outer can and the necessity to do so prior to insertion of the rubber insert which absorbs vibrations, conventional shift lever assemblies have used rubber cement to attach the rubber insert. The rubber cement does not provide an ideal bond between the rubber insert and the outer and inner cans. The present invention improves upon this by allowing rubber to be injected directly into an outer can supported in a mold, as will be described more completely below.